| Arrangement | Formal arrangement has not been completed, but the collection is currently ordered as follows:
1. Scientific correspondence (18 boxes)
2. Working papers, correspondence and printed reports on Christian and Woodhouse's research into Uranium Alloys and other advisory work for the UK Atomic Energy Authority, includes data in graph form (1 box)
3. Working papers, correspondence and printed reports relating to Christian's role as an advisor to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, 1960s (1 box)
4. Papers relating to the Inter-Service Metallurgical Research Council (1 box)
5. Notes, presentations and programmes relating to conference and symposia attendance and participation, 1950s-2000 (9 boxes)
6. External lectures and overseas visits information, including visual material (4 boxes)
7. Papers relating to Christian's interaction with Soviet scientists (public access to this material is restricted until 2049)
8. Undergraduate lecture notes and handouts (5 boxes)
9. Files on research students and post docs (5 boxes)
10. Draft and editorial notes for Christian's book 'The Theory of Transformations in Metals and Alloys' (4 boxes)
11. A card index of book subjects
12. Copies of Christian's publications, some including draft material, 1945-2002 (18 boxes)
13. Notes, drafts, citations and assessment of research impact relating to Christian's papers and publications (1 box)
14. Book reviews and referee reports written by Christian (4 boxes)
15. Referee's reports and related papers and correspondence Christian worked on with Hubert, Aaronsen and G Tayor (1 box)
16. Notebooks and address lists (1 box)
17. Career and biographical information including copies of Christian's CV, papers relating to his retirement, honours, awards and celebrations of his career, press cuttings, obituaries (1 box)
18. Theses sent to Christian (5 boxes)
19. Reprints, reports and other publications sent to Christian (4 large boxes)
20. Magnetic storage media - 3.5 inch floppy disks, flexi disks and 1 audio cassette tape, content unknown (1 box)
21. Miscellaneous papers (1 box) |
| AdminHistory | During a distinguished career, John Wyrill (‘Jack') Christian had a profound impact on the subject of materials science, particularly physical metallurgy. He was a research student in the laboratory of William Hume-Rothery, 1937. Later he became lecturer in metallurgy, (1955); George Keeley Reader in metallurgy (1958); Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1963); Professor of Physical Metallurgy (1967). He was Editor and then Associate Editor of 'Acta Metallurgica' and of other journals. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1975.
Christian was recognized as a world authority on martensitic transformations, and laid the foundations for the modern understanding of this topic. His monumental two–volume work, The theory of phase transformations in metals and alloys (1965), is the classic authoritative treatise on the subject, and remains one of the most important texts ever published in the area of materials science. It redefined the whole field of phase transformations, set new standards of intellectual rigour and comprehensiveness, and inspired successive generations of scientists to follow in his footsteps.
He was also a pioneer in the study of the mechanical properties of metals and alloys, particularly those having the body–centred cubic structure. He and his students played a key role in establishing that the low–temperature mechanical properties of this important class of metals are controlled by intrinsic dislocation–lattice interactions and not by impurity effects. He contributed to the study of many other topics in materials science, including the structure of interfaces, the mechanism of deformation twinning, and the properties of stacking faults. He was the recipient of numerous national and international awards for his work. His researches, which were always characterized by precision and deep physical insight, have stood the test of time. |